


A Journey Through Babel

by Missy_Pixels



Category: Star Trek: The Next Generation
Genre: Culture, Data Explores Humanity, Gen, Language, Universal Translator
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-05
Updated: 2019-09-05
Packaged: 2020-10-10 13:40:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,412
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20528933
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Missy_Pixels/pseuds/Missy_Pixels
Summary: There's something sinister lurking when the Universal Translator goes down unexpectedly.





	A Journey Through Babel

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Rosencrantz](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rosencrantz/gifts).

> There's no firm timeline for when this fic takes place, just that it happens sometime between when Wesley leaves for the academy and before Geordi's mother disappears.

Beverly Crusher was sorting bio samples when she felt a strange lightness in her ear. She shook her head but as quickly as it appeared it had disappeared again. 

She turned back to the biosamples she was working on. "Nurse Ogawa, can you hand me my hyperspanner?"

Except when Crusher turned around Nurse Ogawa hadn't moved. Instead she stood where she was, frowning back at Crusher.

_Thanks, is there something on my teeth?_ Crusher thought to herself. "Allison," she tried again. "Are you alright?"

Nurse Ogawa spoke, but it wasn't anything like the usual smooth Gaelic Crusher was used to hearing from her. Instead it sounded harsh and unpleasant. 

It occured to Crusher that Nurse Ogawa was from Vancouver. _English?_ She wondered. “The translator’s down,” she said out loud even though she was pretty sure no one in the sickbay could understand her. "Computer," she tried, but it didn't acknowledge. "Computer," she tried again frustrated. 

Her comm badge beeped when she tried it, but it wouldn't acknowledge her command either. And when she went to the turbolift, the doors opened for her but wouldn't respond to her destination request. Never more frustrated with just how many ship functions were voice activated, Crusher pulled off a nearby panel to the jefferies tubes and started to make her way to the bridge on foot.

***

"I sense a lot of worry and confusion among the crew, but not panic," Troi reported in the conference room. Data repeated her assessment to Picard.

Normally Data preferred to use the universal translator through his combadge, and route all the languages he heard into Federation Standard for the sake of efficiency. But with the entire UT system down he was utterly fascinated hearing everyone's accents for the first time. For example, he had never realised before how Troi rolled the r's and l's of her language so much she almost sounded as if she was purring sometimes. Or how Picard's French seemed so averse to any kind of stoppage of sound that every phrase he said sounded like one long word. 

The only senior officer not in the conference room was Geordi, who was also the only member of the senior staff other than Data who could speak Federation standard and therefore interact with the computer. He was listening in on the meeting over the comm system, though likely not understanding most of what was being said.

"The problem is that the ship's defaults are all set to Federation Standard," Geordi explained over the comm line, while Data translated for Picard. His perfect Federation Standard accent exactly the same as Data had always heard it before. "The ship reads the brainwaves of whoever is accessing the panel or talking to the computer and translates it into the user's primary language. But with the entire Universal Translator system off-line, everything just resets to default."

Data translated everything Geordi said for Picard. 

"We can't change the settings to accept another language?" asked Picard.

Data translated what Picard said back into Federation standard.

"It's no good," said Geordi. "Most languages used by the ship's crew aren't actually stored in the system. It would take half our memory banks if we wanted to store every known language, it's a lot more efficient to just let the Universal Translator make the translations in real time."

Picard made a noise that sounded almost like a low growl that Data had long since learned to associate with annoyance. He then dismissed it as irrelevant and did not translate it for Geordi. 

"Do we know why the Universal Translator's offline?" asked Picard. 

"That's what I'm trying to figure out, but it's taking a bit more time with a skeleton crew to work with. All I know is that I ran a diagnostic on those system just last week and everything was working fine then."

***

"What I don't get," said Geordi kneeling down while pulled out one of the panels in engineering, "is why it affected the comm badges, too.They run on different systems. So how did they both go down at the same time, but leave your internal UT system unaffected?”

Data cocked his head and processed the question. "While the comm badges can function on their own, they do connect automatically with the ship's system when they are in range. Whereas my own systems function entirely independent unless I choose to connect them myself."

"Yeah," said Geordi, "I thought of that too. But it means whatever caused this must have targeted UT systems directly."

"'Targeted' is a curious choice of words. Do you believe this malfunction to be deliberate?"

Geordi leaned back while he looked at the readings on his tricorder. "I don't know," he admitted. "It's weird whatever it is." Geordi took another reading and frowned again. "Hey Data could you grab my phase coil resonator?"

Data crossed the room to where Geordi had left it on a nearby display panel and brought it back. He noted how much quieter engineering was then normal, especially for the time of day. Other than Geordi and himself here were only two young crewmen in the area, one who only started on the Enterprise only a few months ago, and one petty officer. 

"Why do so few people speak Federation Standard?" asked Data when he got back. Of all the languages to speak it seemed the most efficient choice. It was Data's default language as well. 

Geordi pulled his head out from inside the panel just long enough to take the hyperspanner from Data. 

"I dunno," he said. "It used to be required at the Academy. I guess the UT system is just a little too efficient. People don't see a need for it anymore."

"You learned it," Data pointed out. 

"Yeah well, I grew up on starships. Mom spoke Swedish and Dad spoke Somali, and it was a headache changing the UT settings all the time, so when I wasn't talking to either of them I just had it set to default all the time. I thought it was a good system until I went back to Earth for high school and found out just how rusty my Swedish was. Just because you understand a language alright doesn't mean you're necessarily any good at speaking it."

Data took a moment to process what Geordi was saying. "You regret not learning Swedish better? Even though Federation Standard is a more useful language to be proficient in."

"Yeah a bit," said Geordi. "I mean I'm glad I'm so fluent in Standard, I wouldn't change that. But a bit more time practicing Swedish would have saved me a lot of embarrassment when. My teacher even offered me a translator my first day of class on Earth."

"Offered? Did you decline?"

"How would I have ever gotten any good at Swedish if I used a translator?" He climbed out of the panel with a smile, and traded the phase coil resonator with his tricorder and did another reading.

"But why make the effort to learn it at all? What is the use of it?"

Geordi looked up Data, his mouth crooked in an expression that Data had come to understand generally means confusion or bemusement. 

"It's my culture," said Geordi as though that explained it. "Losing my Swedish would have been like losing a piece of who I am."

***

"I'm really sorry for pulling you away, Data," said Crusher as she led him across the sick bay. "But if I don't freeze these bio samples now they're going to be useless."

"There is no reason to apologize, Doctor," said Data as he followed her. "Geordi is still running diagnostics, my help is not yet necessary."

"Well I appreciate it anyways," said Crusher. "It's so frustrating, ever since this malfunction, I can't make anything work. Even the display panels are all gibberish, I can't even read my medical tricorder."

Freezing the biomatter in the sick bay freezers was a fairly simple task if a little monotonous. "Doctor, do you mind if I ask you a personal question?" said Data careful to keep the bio samples all in the right order as he helped transfer each one to the freezers.

"Not at all."

"You have stated before your family ancestry is primarily from a region of Earth that spoke mainly English. How did Gaelic become your first language?"

"My grandmother," said Beverly with a smile Data interpreted as fond. "She lived on Arvada III, which was founded as a Scottish cultural reclamation project. Scottish Gaelic was the primary language spoken there, if you wanted to talk in any other language you needed a personal UT. So after my grandmother took me in as a baby, that's all I ever heard."

"According the Federation data banks, Gaelic is one of the least spoken languages among modern humans. Even before the destruction of Arvada III. What is the advantage to speaking such an obscure language?"

Like Geordi, Crusher looked confused by the question. "To stop it from being lost," she explained as though it was obvious.

***

In Data's quest to better understand humanity, he had never given language much consideration. Language had evolved, he'd always believed, as a necessity for communication. As different cultures could not communicate with each other, languages had diverged and _lingua francas_, some more successful than others, had developed for the sake of greater efficiency. Of course no _lingua franca_ was ever as efficient in communication, or as simple to speak or learn, as Federation Standard. And yet it seemed that despite that, most humans seemed determined to cling to more primitive, less efficient forms of language. Even Counselor Troi, who had been raised in a culture capable of even more efficient means of communication had still chosen to learn the barely used aristocratic Bajoran as a spoken language.

It was quickly becoming apparent that Data was missing something, perhaps even something crucial, about humans when it came to language. So it was rather unfortunate that before he'd had a chance to properly explore it, the ship was hit with an emergency.

"It appears to be a commonly occurring natural phenomenon," Data explained in French for the benefit of Picard, reading the display panel in front of him which showed not only the one in proximity, but many others forming and dissipating at various nearby points. "Though not one that the Otzah people have warned us about."

Picard's eyebrows furrowed and he made a low noise in the back of his throat. Data concluded he was displeased. He looked back towards the view screen at the radioactive cloud ahead. 

"Can we avoid it?"

"Unlikely with our current manpower," said Data. They'd need warp speed, but the three crewmen currently available weren't nearly enough to man the warp drive, even if Data were to go down to help them. He looked across the bridge. It was almost empty except for a security officer who'd taken a piloting course once at the academy sitting at the relief con and an ensign with two months experience and no training at the relief navigation post. Data also wouldn't be able to help Geordi if he wanted to because he'd be needed on the bridge.

"Can we survive if it hits us?" asked Picard. 

"If the cloud were to hit us now it's unlikely," reported Data. "However there are modifications that can be made to our shields that should block out the majority of the radiation."

"Can it be done before we come into contact with it?"

Data did a quick calculation. "Unknown, Sir. The cloud is moving sporadically, it's impossible to estimate how much time we have before we're hit. However I can work faster with Commander La Forge's help."

"Do it," said Picard. Then when Data was halfway to the turbo lift--"Data? Quickly, do you know if the Otzah had unsupervised access to our computers while they were here?"

Data understood what Picard was implying immediately. "I will find out, Sir."

***

Modifying the shields was long tedious work, especially with the skeleton crew available. And unfortunately left no time to investigate the Universal Translator malfunctions. Not that that stopped Data from going over the matter as he worked.

The Otzah had seemed friendly when first contacted. An isolated race who occupied a small grouping of planets near the Federation border. They weren't known to cause trouble, but weren't as outgoing as their much larger neighbours on either side. Neither of which seemed to know much about the Otzah, nor care much to talk about them. One thing was apparent, this area of space wasn't particularly coveted, and with natural phenomena like the kind they'd just run into, Data could understand why.

Data went through his data logs of their time on the Enterprise. He had to admit if they wanted the crew dead, their strategy was sound. Anyone investigating the Enterprise would find a crew taken by surprise by a phenomenon they'd never seen before. And how much of their technology that the Captain had refused to share would they have had ample time to comb over before another Federation ship could arrive to retrieve them?

"I've been researching myths on language," Data told Geordi as they worked to adjust each shield array manually one by one. 

Geordi put the panel back on the wall he was working on and glanced up Data. "When did you have time to do that?"

Data cocked his head at the question. "Our current task only takes up 5.3% of my computation ability. Which has left me with ample space to continue to consider possibilities for what has affected the Universal Translator system and also explore some of my own questions regarding humans and language."

"You're still on that, huh?" asked Geordi. He moved over and removed the next panel and started his work over again. 

"I thought mythology might be a good starting place in understanding humanity's relationship to language," Data explained as he worked. "But most of the stories I came across seemed to have a negative view of the development of multiple languages. Often the development of new language is seen as a cause of discord. Often it's a curse, at best it's a gift that resulted in negative consequences, such as when Hermes gifted language to humans in classical Geek mythology. There was one story in particular that reminded me quite a bit of our current ordeal from ancient Judaic texts, called The Tower of Babel."

"Mmm," Geordi hummed. "I think know that one."

"The message seems to be that inability to communicate makes cooperation difficult."

"We can communicate, though,"Geordi pointed out. Then, "Usually, I mean."

Geordi was quiet for a few moments while he worked. Taking the time to consider his next words. "Federation Standard gets the job done, but it's not a nice language," he said finally. 

"I am not sure I understand."

"Swedish and Somali, they're nice languages," Geordi explained. "They're aesthetically pleasing. I like how they sound."

"And Federation Standard does not sound nice?"

"No, not at all," said Geordi. "It doesn't have a flow. It's too uniform. I mean if you need to be understood, it does the job, but it has no personality. I grew up hearing amazing poetry in Somali, and beautiful operas sung in Swedish. Anything like that in Federation Standard always felt like a cheap imitation. There was always something lost in the translation."

"So it's a question of art," asked Data. 

"Art, culture. It's all wrapped up together," explained Geordi. 

Data turned back to his own panel to work. Geordi had given him something new to consider.

***

The Russian Worf spoke was harsh and guttural and surprisingly not unlike the Klingon Data had heard him speak on occasion, though with perhaps more of a musical tilt to it, especially with how he rolled his r's. And Data wondered briefly if the two languages coincidentally sounded similar or if it was just how Worf spoke. He made a note when this done to look up Russian sound files.

"The Otzah should have had limited access to the ship's computer," said Worf. Data always found Worf difficult to read. Mannerisms and tone which would have indicated irritability in most of the Enterprise crew members may indicate a good mood in Worf.

"It should have been sufficient to limit their access to select databanks," Data agreed, choosing to answer back in Russian, "but perhaps it was still enough to sabotage the ship's systems."

Worf made a low sound that sounded almost like a growl. "That should not have been possible."

"To access our systems, no. But to upload something into our databanks, something that would not have been seen as malicious at the time. The Universal Translator is connected to the entire ship's system and doesn't have the same protections as other essential systems."

Worf was quiet for a moment while he considered. He glanced down at his display panel, likely out of habit, since he could not currently read the language displayed. Then frowned.

"The security system should have assessed anything uploaded and should not have immediately integrated it with the computers," said Worf. 

"Unless," said Data studying the Otzah's computer activity while they were there, "what they uploaded were language bank files."

"What are you suggesting?”

"That perhaps the code that took the Universal Translator system offline was within the Otzah language itself,” said Data. "It would make sense, it is the only new information the computer has processed from their time here. And as I have never heard the language directly, only translated into Federation Standard by the ship's Universal Translator system, it would explain why my own Universal Translator has remained unaffected."

"We would need to isolate any data file connected to the Otzah language and purge it," said Worf. "We will not be able to make the Universal Translator functional again until we do."

Data immediately got to work.

***

"I don't believe it," said Geordi going over the Otzah language codes with Data. "They really imbedded a virus directly into their language patterns."

They'd completed the manual adjustment to the shields, and now it was just a matter of waiting for the computer to process the changes and make the adjustments. In normal circumstances it would be a simple process, but with the skeleton crew and the ship's computers operating at minimal capacity, Data projected the chances of it being ready before it was needed to be rather low. 

"This goes deep," said Geordi still going over the files. "Once I have all this isolated and purged, we might still have to do an entire system reset. Delete everything that happened since our first meeting with the Otzah."

"With the natural phenomena in this area of space, that would not be advisable," said Data. "Without any shields or tactical maneuvers, any contact with one of the clouds would be fatal."

"We're sitting ducks if we don't," Geordi pointed out. "Our maneuverability is limited with just impulse, and even with the adjustments we have one maybe two hits from one of those clouds before we start taking on heavy casualties."

"Neither situation is particularly optimal," Data agreed.

"We've got to pick our time," said Geordi. "Wait for a point where the clouds are further away and hope for the best."

***

Data was back at the helm, Geordi and the rest of the skeleton crew was on stand by while he monitored the clouds. Picard was on the bridge as well, but it had been decided that taking the time to translate was too inefficient. In the moment it would be up to Data to make major decisions and hope they get lucky.

Data monitored the cloud movements. The randomness made it hard to predict. Data was forced to take his best guess, which in the end had been a quick series of calculations and when the odds were .003% higher of the ship being avoided than usual, he told Geordi to begin the reset.

The ship was blind while the ship's systems reset. In fact there was no light at all. The only life support the amount of air and heat currently stored in the ship. If the system reset took more than 3 minutes, the temperature would begin to drop rapidly.

That time while brief for most humans is an eternity for an android. But finally the ship's systems came back online with minimal issues.

Geordi's voice appeared over the comm system immediately. "Did it work?"

Data immediately checked the status of the natural phenomena to discover a cloud bearing directly on them. "Performing evasive maneuvers," said Data, there was no time to check the systems. 

But it must have worked because Picard had stood up from his chair behind Data and ordered the crew to their stations in what was immediately translated into perfect Federation Standard. 

"Captain, I am not sure how long I can keep avoiding this cloud," said Data truthfully. The thrusters were properly online now and it was making things a bit easier, but all it would take was one unpredictable move directly towards the ship for a direct hit. And Data was not sure, even with the updates to the shields how long they could withstand such close contact. 

"How long until the warp drive can be back online?" Picard asked Geordi. 

"I'm going to need a few minutes," he said. "Best I can do."

"The second it's online I want you take the ship to warp," ordered Picard. 

In exactly 4 minutes and 22.62 seconds the warp drive came back online and Data immediately plotted a course outside of Otzah space. A millisecond before they left one of the clouds hit their shields.

The touch was just light enough that the adjustments to the shields were just enough to keep it from doing any permanent damage and then the Enterprise was back in Federation Space.

***

The Otzah representative looked very surprised to see the Enterprise, still with its full crew complement, arrive at the Otzah rendez-vous.

They had set up a system, inspired by how Data’s Universal Translator had been protected, with a separate, isolated Universal Translator set up to translate the Otzah's speech into Federation Standard before sending it to the rest of the ship. 

"It’s like using a filtration device," Geordi had said when Data had suggested it. 

The Otzah had no good explanation when Picard had demanded an explanation for what had happened, except to say that it must have been an accident. Nor did they have any explanation for why they hadn't been expecting the Enterprise and had no convoy ready, despite the invitation.

In the end, Picard ordered warning buoys around the Otzah's space and recommended Starfleet Command order a ban on communication with them entirely. And then they destroyed the isolated Universal Translator and left Otzah space for the last time.

***

Picard was preparing his final report to Starfleet Command when Data walked into his office.

"How can I help you, Data?" asked Picard, standing to greet him.

"I have been wondering about language," said Data.

"I'm not surprised, what exactly is on your mind?"

"I feel in my endeavours to become more human, I have failed to consider a crucial aspect of humanity," admitted Data. "I had always believed that language was a simple tool for communication, but I have recently concluded that it is more than that."

Picard nodded. "And what have you concluded?" 

"I am still not sure. Geordi explained the artistic merit of language, such as poetry and music that is lost in translation--of an aesthetic quality. And I understood his position, but I do not believe that that is all of it. The connection I observed with crew members connection to their language seemed to go further than simply appreciating art."

"I agree," said Picard. "Language isn't just communication, and it isn't just art. It's culture. There is a quote from a 20th century Earth linguist named Roman Jakobson that says, 'Languages differ essentially in what they must convey and not in what they may convey." Languages reflects their culture and influences and helps shape the worldview of those who speak it."

"I am not sure I entirely understand," admitted Data. 

"Did you know the word for like and love is the same in French?” asked Picard. “The French culture is passionate, for us there’s no strong need to distinguish between them. But it can go deeper than that. Languages can affect your view on gender, on how you center actions, how you relate the world to yourself, or don't. All of these change perception, affect your worldview."

"Interesting," said Data. "But if language affects one's worldview, would it not make sense to learn more than one? To expand your worldview and better yourself? And yet Geordi and Lieutenant Worf are the only two members of the senior staff who speak more than one language."

"Well yes," Picard's smile looked somewhat sheepish. "I think sometimes the Universal Translator does too good a job. We can communicate with each other better than ever before, and it's helped lesser spoken languages tremendously, even bringing some back from the brink of extinction. But it can also make it too easy to stay in your own personal bubble and never expose yourself to other languages at all. Something I was rudely reminded of during this mission.

"Actually, I was planning on recommending the Academy begin making Federation Standard a required course again. If we'd even had twice as many crewmen who could speak it during this mission our situation would have been a lot less dire. Though it remains to be seen if they consider it or not."

"It would be wise," agreed Data. "Captain, before I go I have one more question.

"I only remember Dr Soong ever speaking Federation Standard. He found it efficient and practical. But I remember his wife, Juliana, a woman I considered like a mother, she would speak Irish from time to time. Captain, is Irish an aesthetically pleasing language?"

"Yes," said Picard. "I've only heard it spoken on a couple of occasions, but when I did, I found it quite beautiful."

"Thank you," said Data. "I've found this conversation to be very informative."

***

When Data returned to his quarters he went to his personal display panel and opened the Universal Translator system. He changed his default language from Federation Standard to Irish. And then he fed Spot and while she ate, he began researching Irish poetry. 

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is a birthday present to Rosencrantz. Thanks for giving me such a fun request!
> 
> I've always wanted to see the Universal Translator explored more as a concept in Star Trek and this was a good opportunity. I tried to keep everyone to the languages I assumed they were meant to speak in canon, though I stretched Crusher a bit who was probably meant to be an English speaker. But it was such a good chance to talk about how the Universal Translator could have been used for language reclamation.


End file.
